A breezy thriller with brief forays into matters of race, class, and the paranormal.
When an 18-year-old girl lands a high-paying summer job as academic tutor for the well-behaved Ella Morison, she can’t believe her luck. But all is not quite as it seems.
Liu’s nameless first-person protagonist is grateful for the opportunity—staying with the wealthy, white Morison family in a perfect house on Arrow Island, she’s hours away from her anxious mother, her delinquent brother, and the specter of the father who abandoned them. Quickly, though, she encounters mysteries that her roving mind cannot easily resolve. Why is she drawn to Henry, Ella’s “more than a little irritating” older brother? How can she reach an apparently, inexplicably distracted Ella? And what darkness lurks in the shadows of the home, waking her and Ella at night and threatening the whole family? This isn’t a new story, echoing other outsiders-serving-the-rich lore from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) to Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus’ The Nanny Diaries (2003). Liu’s welcome update of a Chinese-American heroine is offset by the awkward inclusion of italicized Mandarin directly followed by translation. Still, the intrigues are compelling, and Liu’s descriptions of both the protagonist’s life of striving and her brush with privilege ring fresh and true.
A breezy thriller with brief forays into matters of race, class, and the paranormal. (Suspense. 12-18)Pub Date: Dec. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-230667-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Sparkling and lush; a gem.
A witch and two princes are brought together in an adventure to save 8th-century Wales.
When Ffion, a hedgewitch estranged from her powerful magical family, members of the Foxhall coven, suffers a terrible loss, she finds herself in the position to team up on a quest with Taliesin, the “bastard prince” of her kingdom of Powys. Ffion sets out to walk the length of Offa’s Dyke, determined to use her own magic to destroy it in order to return the disappearing magic to Wales. Meanwhile, Tal and his brother, Dafydd, have been pitted against one another in a challenge from their father, King Cadell, to destroy the dyke: Whoever succeeds will inherit the throne. While clever, opportunistic Tal hates magic, he’s desperate to become king. Dafydd would rather spend his days working at his forge as a blacksmith, but he’s coerced by Cadell into competing. Throughout the journey to destroy the dyke and thwart their enemies, the brothers are thrown together with Ffion in ways they couldn’t have predicted. This comforting and cozy fantastical romance bursting with Welsh mythology is told from Ffion’s, Tal’s, and Dafydd’s compelling points of view. It’s an atmospheric jewel box with sympathetic characters readers will root for from the first page; they’ll only be disappointed to learn it’s a stand-alone novel and not a series opener. Ffion in particular shines as a thoughtful, brave hero with a compelling backstory.
Sparkling and lush; a gem. (pronunciation guide, author’s note) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9780063083578
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Gripping and authentic in the ways it portrays grief and shows how moving forward means having to let go.
After her father dies, a teen drops out of high school, loses her job, and embarks on a four-week journey through the California backcountry.
Everyone in the Bear Creek Community Service program is assigned a nickname as part of starting over with “a blank slate.” No one needs to know your past or whether you’re there by choice or court order. All that matters is the present: working on hiking trail maintenance. For Atlas James, or Maps, as she’s now known, it’s an escape from the poor decisions she’s made since her father’s death from cancer and a tribute to him. One of his dying wishes was to hike the Western Sierra Trail with her—the same one she’ll now be spending the summer working on with Books, Junior, Sugar, and King. Maps is immediately drawn to group leader King, and as secrets are revealed, the two act as magnets, attracting and repelling one another. Maps’ tangible grief is centered as she copes with the loss of the only person who understood her and always had her back. Gradually, as they clear brush, dig drainage, and battle the backcountry and their pasts, a sense of family is forged among the crew. The palpable romantic tension between King and Maps propels this beautifully written story. Junior is coded Black; other major characters read white.
Gripping and authentic in the ways it portrays grief and shows how moving forward means having to let go. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780063088580
Page Count: 336
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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